Julie Cart

These community projects can give renters and low-income homeowners a chance to go solar, but the PUC’s action is unlikely to give them the option.

As rooftop solar projects have plummeted, about 17,000 workers could lose their jobs. Will this derail the state’s climate and clean energy goals?

Only a few small demonstration projects off the West Coast have harnessed the power of waves and tides. Costs are high and hurdles are challenging.

The utilities commission reduced payments to apartments, schools and businesses selling solar power to the grid despite a barrage of criticism. Commissioners say it reverses unfair subsidies.

Massive ocean wind farms off Morro Bay and Santa Barbara County — which could transform these quiet coastal towns and affect marine life — face a turbulent path.

Ocean wind farms are essential to electrify California’s grid with 100% clean energy. But they’re a giant, costly experiment — no one knows how hundreds of towering turbines will transform the remote North Coast.

As nights warm and droughts intensify, past models predicting fire behavior have become unreliable. So California is working with analysts and tapping into new technology to figure out how to attack wildfires. Gleaned from military satellites, drones and infrared mapping, the information is spat out in real time and triaged by a fire behavior analyst.

Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a plan to speed construction of major public infrastructure and demanded quick votes from lawmakers. His Democratic allies put the proposals on ice.

After unanimously clearing the Senate, a bill expanding first responders’ access to workers’ comp for PTSD moves to the Assembly.

The governor’s building plan would adjust an environmental law known for stalling housing, dams and other projects. One environmental group said, “we have never been more disappointed in a California governor than we are with Gov. Newsom.”

In his initial climate budget proposal, the governor has cut about $561 million from local coastal resilience projects. Legislators, cities express concerns.

Facing a mental health crisis, Cal Fire crews sought less of a workload. But they have to wait two years under their new contract.